Nº 284 - APRIL 2018 - FREE COPY TOURISM Golf, key to the promotion of the Costa The sector attracts more than half a million tourists to Andalucía every year [P2&3] HISTORY 1979: the year Seve won his first major This year sees the 40th anniversary of the legendary Spanish golfer’s win in the British Open [P4] After coming second in Huelva in Berlin to Ciganda breaks Phoenix, Ciganda has become attract spring visitors the first female Spanish golfer This unique Andalusian into the top 10 [P14] province was present at the ITB to enter into this elite club Tourism Fair, promoting its breathtaking golf facilities [P6] :: AFP 2 ANDALUCÍA April 2019 COSTA DEL GOLF Golf continues to be a key sector for promoting the Costa del Sol Its ability to attract visitors all year round, with over half a million tourists coming to Andalucía every year, makes it especially interesting to the authorities ALBERTO cultural and environmental as- GÓMEZ pects of tourism, and ways to achieve an even higher degree of satisfaction among clients,” says Bernal. Intelligent marketing and digi- olf continues to be cen- tal advances will also provide those tral to the way the Costa taking part with a more precise del Sol and the region of knowledge of the destination and G Andalucía are promoted the profile of the type of clients to tourists. The sector has the abil- the Costa del Sol aims to attract. ity to attract visitors all year round, Turismo Costa del Sol will be and in fact more than half a mil- making good use of these confer- lion golf tourists already come to ences as a tool to promote the des- the region every year, most of tination, and it will be allocating them outside the normal peak sea- more funds for targeting emerg- son for tourism, so it is hardly sur- ing markets and boosting air con- prising that the authorities are nections this year. In total, 11,000 keen to increase this sector even euros have been budgeted for seven further. projects of this type. Last week, the Costa del Sol Some of the conferences for pro- Tourist Board announced that it fessionals in the tourism industry will be organising around 20 day- have already taken place, and oth- long conferences for professionals ers planned for this year include in the tourism industry in Spain Beirut, Muscat, Kuwait Japan, Ko- and abroad this year, at an approxi- rea, Taiwan and the USA. These are mate cost of 249,000 euros. considered very important because These conferences, or work- they are a chance to attract tour- shops, will be part of a Tourism Ac- ists from more distant markets, es- tion Plan which the head of Tur- pecially Asia, America and the Mid- ismo Costa del Sol, Arturo Bernal, dle East. says aims to make the destination “The majority of these markets better known and improve its repu- are emerging and are in the expan- tation within and outside the coun- sion phase, so our strategy is to im- try. Commercial alliances will be prove the profitability of interna- formed with professionals in the tional tourism on the Costa del Sol tourism sector, and the idea is to in the near future,” says Bernal. provide made-to-measure prod- ucts to ensure that visitors will Investment want to return to the Costa del Sol The day-long conferences for pro- again and again. fessionals in the golf sector have The Action Plan started to be been allocated the second-highest put into effect last year, and this budget by Turismo Costa del Sol in year’s conferences will focus on 2019, at 75,000 euros. Some of “sustainability, economic, social, A photo of the Gecko Tour at Lauro Golf :: SUR these will coincide with the Costa dalusian government, ex- and presents the award to the THE BEST PLACE IN pressed his gratitude for the re- one which offers the best expe- cognition from the principal ac- riences for clients based on EUROPE TO PLAY tors of the international client satisfaction, quality of the GOLF tourism industry: “It is an ho- courses and accommodation, pri- nour for us to receive such an ce-quality ratio, professional important award,” he said, conduct of the suppliers, support adding that the recognition of the local tourism industry and Last year the Costa del Sol was “reaffirms our leadership in the availability of golf courses. named Best European Golf Des- segment at a national and inter- The Costa del Sol has been “fo- tination by the International national level all through the cusing special attention to the Association of Golf Tour Opera- year, thanks to our 70 golf cour- golf segment for several years, tors (IAGTO) at the Golf Travel ses, which are nearly 70 per with a strategy to achieve opti- Market, which took place from cent of all those that exist in mum management of seasonal 15 to 18 October in Slovenia. Andalucía”. tourism,” said Bendodo, and he The then president of Turis- Every year IAGTO considers all stressed that with this award for mo Costa del Sol, Elías Bendodo, the golf destinations and resorts Best European Golf Destination who is now an adviser to the An- which have been nominated, “it has received a major boost”. Costa del Sol representatives, receiving the award. :: SUR April 2019 ANDALUCÍA 3 COSTA DEL GOLF M del Sol Woche in various towns in Germany in June and the Costa del Sol-Sol Cup Embajadores in Scot- land in September . During the year there will also be conferences, commercial mis- sions and activities aimed at con- sumers in Spain and Portugal, and Turismo Costa del Sol is allocating 36,000 euros for these. Two of the conferences organ- ised by Turismo Costa del Sol this year will be on the subjects of the elite sector and MICE (the Meet- ings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions sector) at a cost of 17,500 euros and 10,500 euros respectively. The Tourist Board will also be holding ‘Turespaña Inversa’ work- shops in Madrid and elsewhere throughout the year, and MICE An- Golf brings half a million visitors a year to Andalucía. :: SUR dalucía commercial conferences in Spanish and international locations Sweden, France, Holland, Spain, which have yet to be finalised. The golf sector is Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Fin- “All these aim to increase the important because it land, Austria, Norway, Italy, Swit- level of knowledge of the destina- attracts tourists all year zerland and the Czech Republic. tion, so the professionals from each The study shows that the Costa tourism sector have as much in- round and they spend del Golf is home to 67 per cent of formation as possible and can take more than other visitors all the golf courses in Andalucía: the most effective decisions to im- in other words more than two out prove the competitiveness of the of every three golf courses in the Costa del Sol. That will bring with region are in this area. More than it increased employment and Europe actively play golf, which half of the golf courses on the Costa wealth,” Bernal explains. means that about 7.4 million peo- del Sol-Costa del Golf are located The Costa del Sol is the jewel in ple practise this sport and, of those, in Marbella, Mijas and San Roque. the crown of Andalusian golf. 55 per cent are federated members. This type of traveller is so im- Europe is the greatest source mar- In terms of numbers of players, the portant to tourism because they ket for the so-called Costa del Golf, 15 principal markets alone have help to resolve the problem of sea- which extends from Vélez-Malaga 640,000 federated members, so sonal tourism (they tend to come to San Roque. An exclusive report this destination, with its 69 golf to the Costa del Sol outside the about this sector, produced by Tur- courses and 1,134 holes in 16 mu- peak summer months), and because ismo Costa del Sol, shows that one nicipalities, is of particular inter- they spend much more during their per cent of the population of Two-thirds of Andalucía’s golf courses are on the Costa del Sol. :: SUR est to golfers in England, Germany, stay than other types of visitors. 4 ANDALUCÍA April 2019 COSTA DEL GOLF 1979: the year that Ballesteros made history with his first British Open The Cantabrian player, who became the father of Spanish golf, paved the way for his five ‘majors’ four decades ago with a series of stunning strokes :: ALBERTO GÓMEZ THE ‘MAJORS’ WON t was a red letter day in the his- BY BALLESTEROS tory of Spanish golf. The year was 1979 and Seve Ballesteros 1979: British Open I had just won his first major tour- 1980: The Masters 1983: The Masters nament. He was 22 years old and had 1984: British Open come to the British Open, the most 1988: British Open famous tournament on the tour, from Pedreña, a small fishing village in Cantabria. There had already been a cause of the momentum on many oc- hint of his potential three years ear- casions, long after the ball had shot lier when he came joint second with off into the distance. Seve didn’t win Jack Nicklaus after a high quality game that week at the Royal Birkdale, but with some outstanding strokes from he left no doubt that a star was born every part of the Royal Birkdale golf and European golf would rival the course. However, for Ballasteros that USA for the first time in years.